SYL - Week 16

I just have to say..... Week 16?!?!?!!!! That means there is only 10 more weeks until the middle of the year. Wow! Ok now better get on with it! (see what time management is so important for me? I'm already wasting blogging time!)

When I read that this week's task was all about slowing down I knew that it was going to put me a little out of my comfort zone. I am so used to doing 10 things at once and having 100 things on my mind at the time. I was determined to give it a go though, I was even a little excited at the thought of clearing my head and getting less done but doing it better. That is exactly what I got.


I started off the week by writing myself 3 tasks to do each day. These were to be the minimum effort required. Every day seemed to focus on something different as well, me time, family time, hubby time, exercise, it was all in there. I was proud of the way I had set it out and I put it as the desktop background on my laptop so I could look at it during my down time at night.

Week Start

I had lots of success at the start of the week. I was more organised and had taken the pressure off myself. The decluttering of the previous week had really helped here as well. I knew what I had to do and I was getting it done. I also sat with the kids (Trav was at work) and we came up with a 1 week meal plan. They really enjoyed this and have referred back to it many times this week, even if once Sophie, 11, had a tantrum because she got her days mixed up and looked forward to chicken schnitzel all day when in fact we were having spag bol. I understand her pain!!

At the end of the week, I sat and reviewed my list of tasks.

Week End

I am really proud of the way things went for the first 4 days. Thursday night Trav did the dishes for me because I had a really busy day. That was really nice. From Thursday, the wheels started to fall off. I was busy sewing new items to sell and got really excited and carried away and forgot to stop and reflect on what was important and urgent. Most of the tasks still got done for the end of the week but they weren't all done on the intended day. I made myself cover as many as I could though because quite a few involved spending time with Trav and the kids and they were loving that.

I was really upset that I had finished the week badly when I realised that I had just been shown how planning works and why it is beneficial for me. The start of the week was refreshing and almost easy, the end of the week we were running late, I was anxious and overwhelmed again. Why? At the start of the week I planned and stuck to it, at the end of the week I had all but forgotten about it until the end of the day.

So I am totally in love with planning now, even meal planning. Already knowing what was for dinner really was a load off my mind and Cameron, 14, even helped me prepare dinner most nights. He is cooking at school and instead of me being all flustered and sending him out of the way, we both knew what we were cooking and had fun. I am now a meal planner!

I have decided to go back to my baby steps and plan from Monday to Thursday and then do a new plan on Thursday that will cover Friday and the weekend. I am not used to looking a week ahead and planning activities, I need to just do a few days at a time and then, as things change, I can include them in the plan later in the week. Once again, somehow, I have managed to start a day feeling very down on myself but stopped and looked and saw my lesson to be learnt. 

Life is not easy but if I plan and go easy on myself then I can do this.